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Macedonia closes border with Greece

Macedonia closed its border with Greece Wednesday, saying closures in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia were preventing migrants from exiting the country and continuing their journey through the Balkans. Greek authorities said some 650 asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan were left stuck in a camp on the Macedonian border.

Central European countries say they have "nothing to hide" on rule of law issues - while justice commissioner Vera Jourova said they should agree to the Commission's controversial budget plans on rule of law conditionality.

Giovanni Buttarelli, the European data protection supervisor, says the EU-US data sharing pact known as Privacy Shield will play an increasingly minor role given the general data protection regulation.